September 47 BC Tsunami: Laizhou Bay, Bohai Sea, China
A tsunami of unknown cause began at Laizhou Bay, Bohai Sea, China in September 47 BC.
Where the waves reached
The source of the tsunami. No runup with a place is recorded for it.
- Under 1 m
- 1 to 3 m
- 3 to 10 m
- 10 to 30 m
- 30 m and more
- Height not recorded
The tsunami
- Date
- September 47 BC
- Source
- Laizhou Bay, Bohai Sea, China
- Cause
- Unknown
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Very doubtful tsunami
- Source location
- 37.500° N, 119.500° E
The toll
The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this tsunami.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
47 B.C. September. Laizhou Bay, Bohai Sea, low event validity. 1.5 m water height (estimated), 100 people killed, 330 houses damaged, 35 boats damaged--estimated based on water height. (reference #93)
China is the country with the earliest literature records of tsunami. According to History of the Han Dynasty Astronomy, in May of the first Chuyuan year of Emperor Yuan (48 BC), there was a tsunami in Bohai Sea;Wang (2005) and Song (1989) think it is so far “the earliest earthquake tsunami” in ancient China. But because the relevant literature does not mention earthquake, so Min and Qiu (2005), Song (2002), Ye et al. (2005), Guo and Wang (2007), Zhou (1988), and most scholars think that the tsunami that occurred in July of the second Chuyuan year of Western Han Dynasty (47 BC) is really the earliest earthquake tsunami [...] Laizhou Bay earthquake in Bohai Sea (38N, 120E) triggered tsunami; land moved again in one year, Beihai Sea overflowed and killed people. (Emperor Yuan history in the History of the Former Han Dynasty). (reference #12988)
More
Every tsunami in 47 BC99 to 1 BCTsunamis of ChinaAlerts in force
Sources
Tsunami events and runups from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI tsunami event 22.